


Echo's Editorial

by paynesgrey



Category: Dollhouse
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2009-11-06
Updated: 2009-11-06
Packaged: 2020-10-03 18:16:05
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 702
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20457353
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/paynesgrey/pseuds/paynesgrey
Summary: Boyd remarks on the present Echo gives Topher.





	Echo's Editorial

**Author's Note:**

> Written for the A-Z meme at my personal journal; this is "Painting" requsted by [](http://psyco-chick32.livejournal.com/profile)[psyco_chick32](http://psyco-chick32.livejournal.com/).

He jumped with a start as Echo crept into his office. Topher turned around and sneered at her as she shot him a curious expression. She stared at him silently before it began to grate on his nerves, so he spoke to her.

“Hi…Echo. What can I do for you?” Topher said with a smile, but his voice had undertones of annoyance.

“For you.” She stepped forward and handed him a painting, the paper wrinkled from the watercolor after it dried. Topher looked at it with fading smile, and he wondered if Sierra was painting scary things again. Topher groaned when he realized it was just a regular painting, and it was definitely not Sierra’s. He looked up and met Echo’s eyes, and she gave him a hopeful yet small smile.

“Er… thanks,” Topher said. “I’ll have to find room on my fridge for this painting.” Thankfully, Actives could not detect sarcasm, he thought.

Echo nodded, and she strode away, and as she left his office, Topher let out a long, hefty sigh. He was about to chuck the painting into the waste basket when Boyd strode in.

“What is that? Is that from Echo?” he asked concerned, noticing the painting right away. What was with this guy? He seemed to have Echo-radar and always knew when something involved Echo, no matter how insignificant.

Topher rolled his eyes. “It’s nothing, and no it doesn’t have to do with Sierra this time.” Topher turned around, and as he set the drawing onto one of his tables, (next to a garbage can) Boyd seemed content on staying and pacing around his office. He made a bee-line for the painting and picked it up.

“Huh. This is interesting.” Boyd met Topher’s eyes, which were definitely telling him to get lost. “It looks like Echo’s got a sense of humor.”

“Oh? It’s just a bunch of globs on a paper.” Topher scoffed.

Boyd paid him a sardonic smirk. “Yes, but she gave it specifically to you.” Boyd held the painting away from him and scrunched his brow. “And, if you squint, it sort of resembles you. Like this yellow glob here and these two curved red lines growing out of your head.”

Topher hated how Boyd was so amused. “I think you’re reading far too much into this, man-friend. She’s a doll! She can’t have a sense of humor at this stage!”

Boyd raised an eyebrow, and Topher wished he could guess what the man was thinking. He waved his hand and turned around. “Here, you can have it of you want, since you seem to care for Echo so much.” Topher sighed and began tinkering with his computer, but he wasn’t really doing anything substantial. He was just hoping to look busy so Boyd would leave.

“No, I’ll let you keep it,” Boyd said humorously, setting the paper down. He probably knew it’d end up in the trash later, but it seemed to please him more to keep teasing Topher this way. Topher grunted. “I think she’s thanking you.”

“Ha! How do you come about that? She painted me as a demon!” Topher said mockingly.

“Well, that’s how Echo knows you,” he said bluntly. “However, I think it’s also a reminder of what you don’t have to be. You showed that with Priya.”

Boyd gave him a long knowing look with a tender smile. Topher felt the hives forming, the feeling of that newly formed conscience bubbling under his skin. He scratched his arm and turned away. Boyd was still there.

“Yeah, well, I still think you are reading too much into this,” Topher said, and he stared at a particularly bright screen on his computer. “There’s no way Echo has the capacity to be that deep.”

Topher could hear Boyd’s footsteps as he headed toward the door – finally.

The man stopped but Topher didn’t turn around to see him off. Finally Boyd said, “Are you sure about that, _friend_?”

Topher harrumphed and looked at the ceiling. He was totally annoyed. He couldn’t throw away Echo’s painting _now_.

If Boyd was right (and Topher was sure he wasn’t), there was something worth investigating in Echo’s message – a strange curiosity that he couldn’t resist.

END


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